Religion Behind Harassment Suit

HAMPTON — A former Hampton Health Department employee who says she was fired for complaining about religious harassment on the job is suing the state for $10 million.

Sonya McIntyre-Handy, a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church, was a social worker for nearly three years. She claims a supervisor repeatedly tried to force her to become a Baptist.

The case, filed in U.S. District Court in Newport News, could raise the sometimes controversial issues of freedom of speech and religion in the workplace, experts said.

"This is a classic example of two very profound First Amendment rights in conflict," said Paul McMasters, First Amendment ombudsman at the Freedom Forum headquarters in Arlington. "The courts as well as government policy are all over the map on this issue because it is so sensitive and so complicated and it touches on our deepest beliefs."

Here's what happened, according to the lawsuit:

The harassment started when the supervisor encouraged Handy to discuss her marital problems with a Christian psychotherapist. "She talked about it a number of times and gave her fliers about it," said Handy's lawyer, Deborah Waters of the Norfolk firm of Rutter & Montagna. "Even after Ms. Handy told her to please just leave her alone, (the supervisor) continued to press the issue."

The lawsuit said the supervisor encouraged other employees to convert Handy. Some employees gave Handy the silent treatment or held prayer meetings near her desk because she would not embrace Baptist doctrines. "There were crosses hanging on the walls, and a sign that says `God loves you,'" Waters said.

The supervisor forced Handy to perform in a Christmas puppet show, and someone left what the lawsuit calls a handwritten "letter from Jesus" on Handy's desk. Disjointed at times, the 35-word letter says, in part, "How can you speak of God & reject me? I love you and know all about you." The letter is signed, "Jesus."

The supervisor overloaded Handy with work, spread nasty rumors about her, and then fired her, the lawsuit says.

Handy, who worked as a family support worker in the Child Abuse Prevention Unit of the Virginia Department of Health office in Hampton for nearly three years ending in May 1995, declined to be interviewed for this article. Handy, 31, says in the lawsuit that she wants her job back. The case should come to trial within a year, Waters said.

A Health Department spokeswoman said she knew nothing about the lawsuit, filed April 8 and amended this week, and therefore could not comment about it.

But the case is especially interesting because it was filed by a former state employee, said one Tennessee-based legal expert. "The establishment clause, the separation of church and state, has been interpreted to mean that the government must be neutral in matters of faith," said Oliver Thomas, a lawyer who is also a minister. "When I'm working for the government, I can't be proselytizing about anything religious."

Thomas said there's "not a lot of law on religious harassment," and added that there's not much case law either. He predicted that new laws could be on the books within a year.

With few exceptions, employers are not allowed to discriminate on the basis of religion. "They can't choose a Baptist over a Catholic over a Jew over a Unitarian, unless they are a religious organization," Thomas said. "The First Baptist Church can hire a Baptist secretary."

If Handy's allegations are proved true, the state might be in trouble, one expert said.

"There is a common sense balance point that can be reached in the workplace," said Robert Boston, a spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a Washington-based watchdog group. "It is perfectly appropriate to keep a religious symbol on your desk, or talk with co-workers about religious faith. But if a co-worker has repeatedly declined invitations to go to church, and they keep coming and keep coming - especially if it is a supervisor/subordinate relationship - then at some point it can become harassment."

Boston said a plaintiff's harassment case can get stronger if her "performance evaluation hinges on her religious beliefs."

"People don't leave their religions behind when they come into work," he said. "There is a problem with aggressive proselytizing. Some faiths place a high premium on getting other people to join. That can be a problem."

Charles Haynes, a scholar-in-residence at the First Amendment Center in Nashville, said that while it's important for employers to avoid promoting one religion over another, it would be nearly impossible to ban all mention of faith from the workplace.

"At some point, sharing becomes harassing," he said. "That of course is difficult to define. When someone says no, he is not interested, that would be enough."